racket

UK: /ˈrækɪt/ US: /ˈrækɪt/ ,(rak′it)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

rack•et¹ /ˈrækɪt/   n. [countable]

1. a loud noise, esp. of a disturbing or confusing kind;
   din;
   uproar:
   [usually singular] What a racket last night with her party!
2. an organized illegal or dishonest activity, as making demands of money by threat or violence.
3. Slang Terms
   • an occupation, livelihood, or business:
     the teaching racket.
   • an easy or profitable source of making money:
     You mean he gets paid for not working? What a racket.

rack•et² /ˈrækɪt/   n. 

1. Sport [countable] a light wooden or metal instrument with a handle and a net, usually catgut or nylon, stretched in an oval frame, used to hit a ball or birdie in tennis, badminton, etc.
2. Sport [countable] the short-handled paddle used to hit the ball in table tennis and paddle tennis.
3. Sport rackets, [uncountable* used with a singular verb] a game played with rackets and a ball in a four-walled court.

Also, ˈrac•quet (for defs. 1, 2. ).

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

rack•et¹  (rak′it), n. 

1. a loud noise or clamor, esp. of a disturbing or confusing kind;
   din;
   uproar:
   The traffic made a terrible racket in the street below.
2. social excitement, gaiety, or dissipation.
3. an organized illegal activity, such as bootlegging or the extortion of money from legitimate business people by threat or violence.
4. a dishonest scheme, trick, business, activity, etc.:
   the latest weight-reducing racket.
5. Usually, the rackets. organized illegal activities:
   Some say that the revenue from legalized gambling supports the rackets.
6. Slang Terms
   • an occupation, livelihood, or business.
   • an easy or profitable source of livelihood.

v.i. 

7. to make a racket or noise.
8. to take part in social gaiety or dissipation.

• 1555–65; 1890–95 for def. 6; metathetic variant of dialect, dialectal rattick; see rattle¹

Synonyms

• 1. tumult, disturbance, outcry. See noise. 

Antonyms

• 1, 2. tranquillity.

rack•et²  (rak′it), n. 

1. Sport a light bat having a netting of catgut or nylon stretched in a more or less oval frame and used for striking the ball in tennis, the shuttlecock in badminton, etc.
2. Sport the short-handled paddle used to strike the ball in table tennis.
3. Sport rackets, (used with a sing. v.) racquet (def. 1).
4. a snowshoe made in the form of a tennis racket.

Also, racquet (for defs. 1, 2, 4).

• Arabic rāḥet, variant of rāḥah palm of the hand
• Middle French raquette, rachette, perh.
• 1490–1500

rack′et•like′, adj. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

racket / ˈrækɪt/ noun

1. a noisy disturbance or loud commotion; clamour; din
2. an illegal enterprise carried on for profit, such as extortion, fraud, prostitution, drug peddling, etc
3. a business or occupation: what's your racket?
4. a medieval woodwind instrument of deep bass pitch

verb

1. (intransitive) often followed by about: to go about gaily or noisily, in search of pleasure, excitement, etc

Etymology: 16th Century: probably of imitative origin; compare rattle¹

racket, racquet / ˈrækɪt/ noun

1. a bat consisting of an open network of nylon or other strings stretched in an oval frame with a handle, used to strike the ball in tennis, badminton, etc
2. a snowshoe shaped like a tennis racket

verb

1. (transitive) to strike (a ball, shuttlecock, etc) with a racket

Etymology: 16th Century: from French raquette, from Arabic rāhat palm of the hand